The Tai Lü people (Tai Lue: ᦺᦑᦟᦹᧉ, Chinese: 傣仂, Dǎi lè, Lao: ລື້, Lư̄, Thai: ไทลื้อ, RTGS: Thai Lue, Vietnamese: Người Lự) are an ethnic group of China, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Vietnam. They speak a Southwestern Tai language.
The Tai Lü people (Tai Lue: ᦺᦑᦟᦹᧉ, Chinese: 傣仂, Dǎi lè, Lao: ລື້, Lư̄, Thai: ไทลื้อ, RTGS: Thai Lue, Vietnamese: Người Lự) are an ethnic group of China, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Vietnam. They speak a Southwestern Tai language.
The Dai people (Burmese: ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; Tai Lü: ᨴᩱ/ᨴᩱ᩠ᨿ; Lao: ໄຕ; Thai: ไท; Shan: တႆး, [tai˥˩]; Tai Nüa: ᥖᥭᥰ, [tai˥]; Chinese: 傣族; pinyin: Dǎizú) are several Tai-speaking ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of China's Yunnan Province. The Dai people form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. By extension, the term can apply to groups in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar when Dai is used to mean specifically Tai Yai, Lue, Chinese Shan, Tai Dam, Tai Khao or even Tai in general. For other names, see the table below.
Northern Thailand the oldest region in Thailand the main ethnic group Tai-Lue established their own kingdoms: the semi-legendary Singhanavati Kingdom (691 BCE–638 CE) evolved into the Ngoenyang Kingdom (638–1292). In 1220, the Khmer controlled Sukhothai was conquered by the Thais and made the capital of the Sukhothai Kingdom. By 1220, the long declining Khmer Empire was mostly overrun by Thais. By the 13th century, the Sukhothai Kingdom (1238–1438) had replaced the Mon kingdoms in Central Thailand. During the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng the Thai script was created in 1283, the arts flourished, Thai institutions were developed, and people called themselves "Thai" as freed people from foreign rule.
In 1351, the Suphannabhum city-state (modern-day Suphan Buri), and Lavo city-state (modern-day Lop Buri) merged into the Ayutthaya Kingdom (Tai-Lue from the Northern+Monic from Chao Phra Ya river basin = Siamese Kingdom) which was founded near the Chao Phraya River. Duarte Fernandes was the first European to arrive in Ayutthaya in 1511.
Tai Lue (New Tai Lü: ᦅᧄᦺᦑᦟᦹᧉ, Tai Tham: ᨣᩤᩴᨴᩱ᩠ᨿᩃᩨᩢ, kam tai lue, [kâm.tâj.lɯ̀]), or Xishuangbanna Dai, is a Tai language of the Lu people, spoken by about 700,000 people in Southeast Asia. This includes 280,000 people in China (Yunnan), 200,000 in Burma, 134,000 in Laos, 83,000 in Thailand and 4,960 in Vietnam. The language is similar to other Tai languages and is closely related to Kham Mueang or Tai Yuan, which is also known as Northern Thai language. In Yunnan, it is spoken in all of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, as well as Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County in Pu'er City.
In Vietnam, Tai Lue speakers are officially recognised as the Lự ethnic minority, although in China they are classified as part of the Dai people, along with speakers of the other Tai languages apart from Zhuang.
Thái people (Vietnamese: người Thái) in Vietnam, also known as Táy people, are officially recognized by the Vietnamese government as one of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups. They are Tai ethnic groups that speak various Tai languages and use the Tai Viet script. They mostly live in the Northwest Region of Vietnam and are culturally and linguistically distinguished from other Tai peoples of Vietnam such as the Nùng and Tày people, who are natives in the Northeast Region. In Vietnam, the Thái nomenclature is composed of several Tai groups, of which the main groups are the Black Tai (Tai Dam, Thái Đen), White Tai (Tai Don, Thái Trắng) and the Red Tai (Tai Daeng, Thái Đỏ). The Tai Lue people are officially classified as a separated group, called Lự. They mostly speak languages in the Chiang Saen branch of the Southwestern Tai languages. Thái people in Vietnam all originate from Yunnan. However, they (Tái minorities in Vietnam) are also different from the Thai people of Thailand although they are both related and speak Kra–Dai languages.